Lately, there has been a lot of talk about the upcoming changes that will “dumb down” World Superbike racing. With Dorna pushing an agenda that brings the premier production-bike class into something that races bikes that are actually similar to the bikes on the showroom floor, there is a vocal portion of fans and enthusiasts that will hate to see the current spec of machinery go away.

A motorcycle dripping in sex, one can spend hours drooling over photos like these of the factory BMW S1000RR in WSBK-spec. So a hat-tip to the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK team, for providing this week’s bathroom reading. There are a couple photos of Marco and Chaz in there as well, for the ladies.

“While we may think that making World Superbike more affordable and closer in specification to the current Superstock rules is a positive step for the series”

Why? it hasn’t done much for AMA Superbike racing, now instead of Mladin you have Hayes, and the crowds arent much better. Its also dumbed down the competition, where before you’d get the occasional AMA standout advance to WSBK or MotoGP, i don’t see that even remotely happeneing with the current crop of riders. Sure, you have a wildcard or two at the US rounds, but they are just more backmarkers than actual competition.

SBPilot

@ Keet, AMA Superbike rules are far from “stock”, the Graves R1 bike is basically WSBK spec, look at the tank, and it’s no secret their electronics are basically WSBK/GP Spec. All credit to Hayes, but the Yamaha Factory bike in AMA is in another league compared to the rest. That is the reason for the domination. Not because of the rules, because of the budget of the team.

World Superstock rules are way more strict than AMA Superbike, so yes, it would be a positive step because it would bring all the bikes closer to spec and depend more on the rider. AMA needs to overhaul their classes. The Sportbike vs Supersport distinction is almost indescribable, basically no one can say what the differences are and it takes major scrutinizing of the rule books to even see what they are.

And Keet, no one from AMA jumps to MotoGP. This isn’t the past, this is the present. If Americans want to have a strong GP rider influence, not only AMA, but WERA, CCS all the clubs needs to change -everything- to breed GP riders and not production riders.